Farm Girl Freak's "Topless" Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

• Frozen, ready-made pie crust for single-crust pie (9 inches) or make your own.
• 2 - 3 cups fresh blueberries (if using frozen, thaw and remove juice).
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375°. 
2. Pre-bake the ready made pie crust for 5 - 10 minutes or as instructed on the package.  
3. In a large bowl, mix sugars, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice. Add blueberries and toss.
4. Transfer filling to baked pie shell. 
5. Bake  for 40-45 minutes or until the the blueberries are tender when poked with a knife or fork and liquid surrounding blueberries is thick and bubbly.
6. Serve with ice cream or whipped topping.

Farm Girl Freak's Apple Crumble Pie

Ingredients:

• Frozen, ready-made pie crust for single-crust pie (9 inches) or make your own.

 Topping: 

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

 
Filling:
 

• 4 - 6 cups peeled and sliced apples (Anna Apples or Granny Smith are good)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375°. 
2. Pre-bake the ready made pie crust for 5 - 10 minutes or as instructed on the package. 
3. Filling - In a large bowl, mix sugars, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice. Add apples and toss to coat. Set aside.
4. Topping - In a small bowl, mix sugars and flour; cut in butter until crumbly. 
5. Transfer filling to baked pie shell. 
6. Sprinkle topping until all of the top of the pie is covered. 
7. Bake  for 40-45 minutes or until the topping is browned and apples are tender when poked with a knife or fork.
8. Serve with ice cream or whipped topping.

Incubating and Raising Royal Palm Turkeys

Mr. Freak and I started our new flock with two female and two male Royal Palm turkeys. From the four, they have produced over 50 fertile eggs so far this year.

This was our first attempt at raising Royal Palm Turkeys and oh what a learning experience it was!  Filled with hope, joy, disappointment and finally success as we learned how to incubate and nurture these wonderful little peepers.

The first incubation and hatching out went horribly wrong and only two of seven babies survived.

The second hatching went much better and twelve of thirteen survived. On the third hatching, eleven of fourteen made it.  On the fourth hatching, eleven of thirteen hatched out.

It is normal to have two or three of the eggs being incubated not to hatch due to them being non-fertilized or spontaneously aborted for whatever reason.  Not all of the eggs will hatch - unless you are very lucky.

I have learned quite a lot about the process of incubating turkey eggs, much of it by pure trial and error.  I have taken notes on what worked and what didn't over the course of the past few months and thought I would share that with all of you.

So here goes ...


Incubation:

• Make certain that you have an incubator that has a circulating fan in it along with a good thermometer/thermostat.  Without these, there are hots spots and cold spots in the incubator and any temperature above or below the optimum of 99 - 101 degrees can mean the death of the embryo in the egg.

• When you first start incubating, turn the incubator on and let the temperature stabilize in the optimum range (99 - 101 degrees) before placing eggs inside. This "warm-up" process may take 6 - 8 hours, so leave the incubator empty at this time.

• Once the temperature is stable, place the fertilized eggs in the incubator, making sure not to jostle, bang or shake the eggs (this can lead to spontaneous abortion of the embryo/fetus).

• Add warm water to the channels that are on the bottom of the incubator, this will increase the humidity level during the gestation period.  Optimum humidity is 80 percent or higher.  You want it like a sauna for the babies during this time.  The windows of the incubator should be "fogging up" which indicates a high humidity. You could also invest in a humidity indicator, but the foggy windows are a pretty good measure of the humidity.

• Gently turn the eggs 3 - 5 times per day for the first 25 days that the eggs are incubating.

• On day 26, 27 and 28, STOP TURNING the eggs and position them with the air sac facing upward (the eggs themselves should be on positioned on their sides).  This will help the baby to emerge from the shell with its beak and face upward without having to struggle to get out of the shell.

Hatching:

• On these last 3 days (day 26, 27 and 28), check for dimples or cracks in the shell that will indicate that the baby turkey is trying to break through the shell with its beak.  Actual hatching could take 12 to 24 hours for each chick.

• If you see that the chick is having trouble coming out of the shell, resist the urge to help, but make sure that the lining just inside the egg shell is moist (not dry or rubbery).

• Have a spray bottle with very warm water  handy and lightly spray the egg shell to keep it moist and easier for the chick to escape from.

• There should be plugs on the top of the incubator which either stop or allow more air into the use. Remove those when the babies are hatching. This will assure that the chick has sufficient oxygen when it is trying to break free of the shell while hatching.

• Once the baby hatches, LEAVE him in the incubator until his down feathers are dry and fluffy (up to 6 - 12 hours).  This will help the chick to better regulate his body temperature and this will also help the chick to transition better from the difference in temperature from incubator to the brood area.

After Hatching:

• Once the down feathers are dry, move the chick to the brood area.  This can be a tub, box, or any other enclosed area with a heat lamp to keep the chicks warm. 

• Also make certain that there are no drafts or cold breezes flowing over the chicks.  At this young age, they cannot regulate their body temperature very well and can get chilled, sometimes leading to death.

• Make certain that each baby is drinking and eating after the first day, but before the third day of life.  Turkey babies are not the smartest creatures, so you may have to drop turkey starter crumbles at their feet so that they will peck at it and start to recognize it as food.  You should also dip each one's beak into a small amount of water so that they start to recognize water for drinking.

• Make certain that the baby can scoot around the brood area. If the baby cannot get around immediately after being placed in the brood area, do not put the baby directly under the heat lamp.  To do so will overheat the baby if he cannot scoot out from under the heat lamp.

• The temperature in the brood area should be 95 - 98 F degrees with a humidity of 70 - 80% for the first week. Then the temperature can be dropped 5 F degrees and the humidity can be dropped 10 % every week after that  - until both get down to normal room temperature and humidity (about 4 weeks of lowering the temperature and humidity).

Hope this is helpful to anyone who is interested in incubating and raising turkeys.

Farm Girl Freak's Yellow Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

4  medium yellow summer squash or crookneck squash, cut in chunks/cubes
1 large sweet onion, diced into large pieces

1 cup sweet red, yellow and/or orange bell peppers diced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon onion powder

1/2 tablespoon thyme
1 cup of bread crumbs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
• Pam or grease a 2-quart casserole dish.
• Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the squash, onion, sweet peppers and butter until vegetables are soft  and the onion is translucent - about 10 minutes.  
  

• Allow the above ingredients to cool for 5 -10 minutes.
• After cooled, place the ingredients in the casserole dish.
• Add the Parmesan, Cheddar, salt, pepper and thyme to the squash mixture and toss until all ingredients art mixed will.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together.  Pour over the top of the casserole, making sure the squash and other ingredients are covered completely in the egg mixture.
• Pour and evenly distribute the bread crumbs on top of the casserole.
• Slice the other 2 tablespoons of butter and place over the bread crumbs.

• Bake at 350 F degrees for 45 - 60 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
• Serve hot and enjoy!

Goodreads Give-a-way!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak

by S.A. Molteni

Giveaway ends May 31, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to Win
 

Spring is BUSY on the Farm!

The past couple of weeks have been busy here at the farm.  I have had guests from out of town spending time at the homestead on and off for the past month.  Aside from that, preparing and planting the garden has taken top priority.

You all know that when guests come calling, the normal routine can get really messed up. Now that I am a bit better for wear, wanted to just post a little of the good things that are happening here on the farm - things I am so grateful for over the past month.

In no particular order, here are a few of them:

My husband and I have welcomed fourteen cheeping, peeping, fluffy bundles of goodness into our home.  These sweet Royal Palm turkey babies were hatched during the last two weeks of April.  Two of seven in the first hatching survived and twelve of thirteen of the second hatching made it.

Twelve Sleeping Peeps:

This is Sweetie and she is now almost 3 weeks old:

The garden has been planted using raised beds made from re-purposed vinyl fencing.  Except for the grapevines  - which my young Angus bull calf (Mocha) decided to trim for me when he broke into the garden yesterday -  all of the plants are growing like gang-busters and I hope will bear fruit very soon.

The tomatoes are getting very close to being ripe:

Now, I must get back outside to help with the farm chores and check on the animals ... 

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Farm Girl Freak's Penny Pinching Garden

Okay, I am a penny pincher - always have been and always will be.

I do not like to spend money nor do I like to shop for extravagant things.  Not that there is anything wrong with people who do shop and spend money, it's just not something I enjoy doing.

When it came time to plant my garden this year, I wanted raised beds. Because over the past five years, planting directly into our clay-laden soil produced water-logged results for most of our vegetable plants.  This year will be different, I kept telling myself and I got the hubs to agree to make some planter boxes for a raised bed garden.

Now, if you want brand new wooden planter boxes or use four-by-four landscape timbers, it costs quite a bit. But, I wanted plastic frames.  I actually found a company that makes them ... for hundreds of dollars each.  The tightwad in me could not fathom that kind of money on something that was just going to get dirt thrown in it.

After relenting and comprising on the wooden version of a planter box, the price tag on ten frames would have been a mortgage payment ... back to square one.

While perusing some old white vinyl fencing that we had stacked in the barn, my husband came up with a brilliant idea. From that brainstorm, we went about building a scaled down model of a planter box made out of the white vinyl fence posts.  We thought it looked good and was sturdy enough, so we filled it with topsoil.

Then we got on a roll and made six regular-sized planter frames and then a double height frame for root vegetables.

This was the end result:

It has been a few weeks since we planted and we have had some torrential rains during that time. But, the plants are surviving and thriving in the raised beds.  Come to find out it only takes a few inches of soil above the flood plain to keep a plant from drowning. The corn plants really have taken off being in raised beds:

What's in your garden this year?  Do you have raised beds or a normal garden?  Do you re-purpose things on your farm?  Tell me all about it.